Everything You Need to Know About Skin Hydration

Hydration is essential for healthy skin. This complex process supports the skin’s suppleness and resilience. It plays a central role in cell regeneration and healing.

Learn how it works — and discover our best tips for keeping your skin perfectly hydrated.

What Is Hydration?

The adult human body is made up of about 60% water. Yet we lose a significant part of this water when we sweat or go to the bathroom. Replenishing these losses is essential for our survival. That’s what happens every time we drink and eat. This intake of water is what we call hydration.

Hydration plays a central role in our physiology: 

• It maintains blood volume
• It helps eliminate waste
• It absorbs and transports nutrients.
• It regulates body temperature.
• It keeps joints flexible.

The skin is our largest organ. Its water content ranges from 67% to 73%. While the dermis serves as its main water reservoir, the closer we get to the epidermis, the lower the water level becomes. For example, a normally hydrated stratum corneum contains between 15% and 20% water. This level is what prevents it from drying out and allows it to fully perform its role as a physical and chemical barrier.

This balance is naturally maintained by the hydrolipidic film. Covering the entire surface of the skin, this protective layer is made up of secretions (sebum and sweat) and dead cells.

Skin hydration is also supported by a combination of amino acids, urea, lactic acid, carbohydrates, and mineral ions. Together, these are known as Natural Moisturizing Factors (NMFs). When they function optimally, the skin remains healthy, supple, resilient, and soft.

Today, many cosmetic laboratories synthesize NMFs to incorporate them into their moisturizing formulas.

How to Properly Hydrate Your Skin

Dehydrated skin feels uncomfortable and tight. And if the situation persists, the process of cell regeneration can be disrupted, leading to flakiness. How can you avoid this?

Hydrate Your Skin… from the Inside Out!

The best way to keep your skin hydrated isn’t necessarily the most obvious: you need to drink water and maintain a healthy, balanced diet!

Water is the only liquid essential to our body, and adults should drink at least 1.5 liters per day (about 8 glasses) — more if it’s hot or if you exercise. Favor fruits and vegetables rich in vitamins C and A (carrots, tomatoes, citrus fruits, etc.), as well as fatty fish and nuts, which are high in omega-3s and essential fatty acids.

Alcohol and tobacco have a drying effect that reduces the skin’s water content — yet another good reason to limit their consumption!

Finally, protect yourself from both the cold and UV rays.

The Right Habits and the Right Ingredients

• Set up a daily routine. It doesn’t need to be long, expensive, or complicated: gentle cleansing, a moisturizer suited to your skin type, and sun protection are a solid foundation!
• No, simply wetting your skin doesn’t hydrate it — quite the opposite! Water (especially hard water) doesn’t penetrate the tissues, and as it evaporates, it leaves the epidermis even thirstier. Always dry your skin properly.
• Learn the difference between moisturizing products (which provide water) and nourishing products (which provide lipids). Moisturizers, made with humectant ingredients, bring moisture to the upper layers of the epidermis. Nourishing products, on the other hand, usually have a richer texture. Their emollients help limit water loss and are better suited for dry skin.
• Cosmetics are full of hydrating ingredients: glycerin, ceramides, certain proteins. But one of the most effective is undoubtedly hyaluronic acid. This molecule can retain up to 1,000 times its weight in water. With it, you can’t go wrong!

Hydration and Healing

When the skin barrier is damaged or injured, proper hydration supports an optimal healing process. That’s why OTR3 Laboratories have developed a formulation combining RGTA and hyaluronic acid.

RGTAs help damaged skin rebuild an optimal cellular structure and promote regeneration. Hyaluronic acid, meanwhile, contributes to the epidermis’s elasticity while preventing oxidative stress.

Even though the opposite is still often claimed, skin needs a moist environment in order to heal properly. This is exactly what healing treatments designed to be hydrating — such as the RGENtec range — provide. They soften the skin, make it more comfortable, and, as a bonus, soothe any itching.

Combining a moisturizing healing treatment with regular massages stimulates blood circulation as well as cell regeneration. The result: a smoother, healthier-looking scar.